Duterte pained by botched Mamasapano mission

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Friday expressed disappointment on why there were no reinforcements sent to the beleaguered Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) commandos who were pinned down in a cornfield during an operation to capture a suspected international terrorist in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in January last year.

"What pains me is that the whole day there was a shooting war, wala man lang isang helicopter," he said in a speech delivered before travel agents in Pasay City.

Oplan Exodus was a mission to pursue and capture or neutralize suspected Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan. Marwan died in the firefight along with 44 SAF commandos, 17 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters, and four civilians.

"They were there. I know. It's just my neighbor. Bakit ang pulis pinapunta doon? Right in front of Mamasapano is the camp or at least the area of jurisdiction of the 6th (army) Division. There are a lot of army soldiers there. Why did they choose the police? The police — although they are SAF, trained in commando style — are created, organized for urban terrorists. Why the hell they were sent to Mamasapano to fight in an unfamiliar ground?" he said.

Duterte also said that the Mamasapano incident was about money.

"Look at Mamasapano, it was all money. The $5 million offered by the United States for the terrorist," he said.

"I am not so much interested on who got the $5 million, but why there were no reinforcements," he added. — APG, GMA News